They may be packed with protein and keto-friendly, but processed meats can wreak havoc on your health. Deli meats, bacon, and hotdogs usually contain cancer-causing nitrates and nitrites as well as pack in elevated amounts of blood-pressure-spiking sodium. A 2013 study published in the journal European Cytokine Network found that sodium nitrate increases oxidative stress, which can damage youthful-skin-promoting collagen and elastin.

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Reports have said that Hillary Clinton follows a diet invented by Dr. Mark Hyman, the director of functional medicine at the Cleveland Clinic and author of New York Times best-selling book Eat Fat, Get Thin. He believes you need to eat lots of fat in order to lose fat. But the catch is that it’s only healthy fats — you can’t have sugar, gluten, grains, dairy, and most fruits. While following this eating plan, you essentially live off avocados and lettuce.
I’ve had a notion drilled in my head that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and that one of the most important things to do to lose weight is eat a big breakfast, smaller lunch, and even smaller dinner. When you talk about ketogenic fasting, you say to eat dinner at 8:00pm and not eat the next meal until 12:00pm then next day. Is it really okay to skip breakfast? Truth About Building Muscle For Older GuysThe Deal: Alves revealed to Delish that the secret to her hot bod is … swapping some meals with baby food. “I did a cleanse, and there were a lot of puréed meals, and my body just agreed with it,” she said. “I was getting really swollen in my stomach area, so I felt my digestive system needed a break. It wasn’t realistic to do all puréed meals, so I do a combination.” For my experiment, I would swap two meals a day with puréed baby food.

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Homemade Bone broth is one of the most powerful superfoods on the planet, especially if you’re over 40. You make bone broth by simmering the bones of a pasture-raised animal for 10 – 24 hours in a slow-cooker, or 24-48 hours for beef. This low, slow cooking draws out the collagen, marrow, and other healing elements from the bones, including amino acids, minerals, glycine, and gelatin—which helps heal the gut and reduce inflammation.

While most Americans consume plenty of protein, research shows that some women begin skimping on the muscle-sustaining nutrient as they age, consuming less than the RDA. Calorie-conscious dieters also tend to cut back on protein, when they should be doing the opposite. "Cutting back causes your body to rob your muscles for energy, leaving you thinner but also flabbier and weaker," says Dr. Apovian. "Not only does losing muscle make your clothing fit poorly, but you begin to burn fewer calories, so even if you're eating the same amount, you can easily regain the weight you shed." Having less muscle mass also makes you weaker, making it harder to do simple activities, so you become more inclined to crash on the couch. Eventually, the scale climbs back up and you start all over again, chipping away at muscle mass and putting the chill on your metabolism with each diet you try.

"Protein burns more calories than carbs and fat,” says Bustillo. About 30 percent of the calories in protein will go towards digestion and absorption, whereas that number is only about 10 percent for carbs, and even less for fats. Fiber's another nutrient that costs a little more energy, says Bustillo—so, getting adequate protein and fiber can definitely help maximize your BMR. [WE MIGHT WANT TO LEAD WITH THIS, AND THEN EXPLAIN IT, SO THAT THE READER IS GETTING THE POINT WE'RE TRYING TO MAKE MORE CLEARLY: PROTEIN AND FIBER ARE GOOD.]

“The 40s are a prevention decade,” says Larsen. “It’s time to get on track and stay there.” If those babies are now big kids, and you’re juggling commuting and carpools, it’s easy to slip into sedentary habits. “I see a lot of people let themselves go,” says Larson. “I’m honest with my clients. You do not want to go into middle age or menopause overweight. Because you will not know what hit you. Eat well, stay active, and practice healthy habits as a family.”
"The main culprit that slows metabolism and often leads to yo-yo dieting is what I call shrinking muscle syndrome," says Caroline Apovian, MD, director of the Nutrition and Weight Management Center at Boston Medical Center and the author of The Overnight Diet: The Proven Plan for Fast and Permanent Weight Loss. Starting at age 30, most people begin to lose about half a pound of the metabolism-revving tissue each year. Poof! Gone, just like that. And at age 50, the rate doubles. "The average sedentary woman may have lost nearly 15 pounds of muscle by the time she reaches her late 50s, a change that could cause her to gain nearly the same amount in body fat," says Wayne Westcott, PhD, a Prevention advisory board member and the director of fitness research at Quincy College in Massachusetts.